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Kallak mine

Coordinates: 66°47′N 19°7′E / 66.783°N 19.117°E / 66.783; 19.117
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Kallak Iron Deposit
Location
LocationKvikkjokk
MunicipalityLapland
CountrySweden
Coordinates66°47′N 19°7′E / 66.783°N 19.117°E / 66.783; 19.117
Production
ProductsIron ore
Owner
CompanyBeowulf Mining

The proposed Kallak mine is a, highly controversial, plan to exploit one of the largest unexploited iron ore deposits in Sweden.

Background

The mining of iron ore in Sweden is a huge industry and is centred mainly in northern Sweden. The country holds 60% of Europe's identified iron ore deposits and is as of 2021 responsible for 90% of Europe's iron ore extraction[1] and 5% of the world's reserves in 2014.[2][3][4]

More than 96% of total ore production comes from the mines in the northern region, known as Norrland. Comprising 10 of the 12 active mines in the country, these mines lie in Sápmi (historically "Lapland"), the traditional territory of the Sámi, the only Indigenous people in Scandinavia.[1]

Location and community

The proposed site of a new mine known as Kallak (the Swedish form of Gállok, the original name of the place in the Lule Saami language) is located on an island in the hydropower-regulated Little Lule River between the (non-Sami) villages of Björkholmen and Randijaur in the municipality of Jokkmokk in the province of Norrbotten in northern Sweden. It is located near to the hydropower plant Parki, and the regulation reservoirs Parkijaure and Randijaure. Björkholmen and Randijaur have around 100 inhabitants, constituting the permanent residents of Gállok/Kallak.[1]

The site is on the ancestral lands of the indigenous Sami people and forms part of the reindeer winter grazing lands of the Sami community of Jåhkågasska tjiellde. The community consists of approximately one hundred members, of which around half work directly with reindeer herding. While this is the community primarily affected by the mining proposal, two other neighbouring Sámi communities would also be indirectly affected.[1]

Mining exploration

The Kallak north and Kallak south prospects were identified by the Geological Survey of Sweden in the 1940s. In the late 1960s the SGU identified Kallak north as containing 92 million tonnes of ore and Kallak south as containing 29 million tonnes of ore at a grade of roughly 35%.

Beowulf Mining acquired the Kallak north licence in 2006, and a drill program conducted in 2010 has found at least 175 Mt of Iron at an average grade of 30%.[5] Beowulf acquired the Kallak south licence from Tasman Metals in mid-2010.[6] An ongoing drill program has shown Kallak south to contain at least 400 million tonnes of Iron at an average grade of 30%.[7]

The combined Kallak deposit contains at least 600 million tonnes of Iron and it is believed that the north and south deposits are connected at depth to give a single iron deposit with a strike length of over 4 km (2.5 mi).[citation needed]

In mid-2010 an independent conceptual study performed by the Raw Materials Group showed that the Kallak north deposit, which at the time was thought to contain 150 million tonnes of iron at 30% grading, was commercially viable.[8]

Impact and resistance

The plans to establish a mine at the site have met resistance from the indigenous Saami people as well as other local inhabitants and have also raised concerns in regard to dam safety, within the hydro power regulated Lule River.[9] On 1 July 2013, protesters set up a road blockade in order to prevent test drilling. On 30 July, the blockade was dismantled by the police, but on the next day the blockade was set up again.[10]

Dam safety research points at the problems of combining hydro power with tailing dams, within the same system. In Sweden this would be the first time such a combination is made, and thereby this would be a full-scale experiment with major risks for people and drinking water provision downstream, amongst other the cities of Boden and Luleå.[11]

In 2014, Norrbotten County said no to further mining in Kallak;[12] the case would be closed if the Swedish governmental geology decision-making body Bergsstaten had agreed with Norrbotten County. However, Bergsstaten overruled the county and it was up to the government of Sweden to give a final answer to the question.[13][14]

In summer 2019 over 1000 people got together in a tent camp of the Rainbow Gathering in Kallak in solidarity with the Sámi people.[15]

In February 2020, the Swedish Government finally refused their application. However Beowulf has continued to express an interest in mining at Kallak.[16] In December 2021, the new Prime Minister of Sweden, Magdalena Andersson, said that Sweden needed more mines, and shares rose in Beowulf after this announcement.[17] With Swedish Green Party, which opposed the project, no longer in the governing coalition, the issue of allowance for the mining project reopened.[18] In February 2022 advisors of the U.N. Human Rights Council[19] and local Saami population protested against it together with Greta Thunberg.[20] Despite the protests, on March 22nd 2022 the Swedish Ministry of Enterprise, Energy and Communications, under a set of environmental protection-related conditions, gave a permission to Beowulf to proceed with the mining project.[21] Before the mine is established, the project needs to be approved by the Swedish environmental court.[22]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d Blåhed, Hanna; Sebastián, Miguel San (2 June 2021). ""If the reindeer die, everything dies": The mental health of a Sámi community exposed to a mining project in Swedish Sápmi". International Journal of Circumpolar Health. 80 (1). doi:10.1080/22423982.2021.1935132. PMC 8259850. PMID 34219614. Text has been copied from this source, which is available under a Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence.
  2. ^ Alexander Perez, Alberto (2014). "2014 Mineral yearbook" (PDF).
  3. ^ "Swedish ore mines". www.sgu.se. Retrieved 1 June 2018.
  4. ^ Brief Outline of the Metallic Mineral Resources of Sweden. na. 1975. ISBN 9789171580849.
  5. ^ "FE Investegate -Beowulf Mining PLC Announcements - Beowulf Mining PLC: Kallak Assay Results".
  6. ^ "FE Investegate |Beowulf Mining PLC Announcements | Beowulf Mining PLC: Kallak Drilling Update". Investegate.co.uk. Retrieved 1 May 2013.
  7. ^ "FE Investegate |Beowulf Mining PLC Announcements | Beowulf Mining PLC: Update re Kallak Iron Ire Project". Investegate.co.uk. 22 March 2011. Retrieved 1 May 2013.
  8. ^ "FE Investegate |Beowulf Mining PLC Announcements | Beowulf Mining PLC: Conceptual Study completed Ka". Investegate.co.uk. 3 March 2010. Retrieved 1 May 2013.
  9. ^ "Suohpanterror. Propaganda posters from Sápmi". 7 April 2015.
  10. ^ "Sweden: Ongoing Road Blockade Against Mining in Saami Territory". 5 August 2013.
  11. ^ Designing dam safeties: perspectives on large scale dams within the intra-actions of technology, nature and human decision making
  12. ^ Radio, Sveriges. "Länsstyrelsen säger nej till Kallak - P4 Norrbotten".
  13. ^ Radio, Sveriges. "Bergsstaten går emot länsstyrelsen om brytning i Kallak - P4 Norrbotten".
  14. ^ "Beslut om Kallak hänskjuts till regeringen". Bergsstaten. 13 February 2015. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 8 April 2015.
  15. ^ Nyheter, S. V. T.; Wänkkö, Ulrika; Lång, Elisabeth (14 August 2019). "Rainbow Gatherings tältläger i Kallak saknar tillstånd från markägare". SVT Nyheter (in Swedish). Retrieved 29 December 2022.
  16. ^ "Sweden: Beowulf Mining seeks to mine in indigenous Sámi territory despite government refusal of its application, incl. co. AGM responses". Business & Human Rights Resource Centre. 14 September 2020. Retrieved 6 February 2022.
  17. ^ "Beowulf Mining shares soar on Swedish mining hopes". UK Investor Magazine. 3 December 2021. Retrieved 6 February 2022.
  18. ^ "Greta Thunberg condemns UK firm's plans for iron mine on Sami land". the Guardian. 11 February 2022.
  19. ^ "UN advisers urge Sweden to stop mine in home of indigenous Sami". Reuters. 10 February 2022.
  20. ^ "Thunberg protests against Sweden iron mine on Sámi land". www.euractiv.com. 7 February 2022.
  21. ^ "Sweden gives qualified go-ahead for northern Kallak iron ore mine". Reuters. 22 March 2022.
  22. ^ Welle (www.dw.com), Deutsche. "Sweden gives green light to controversial iron mine | DW | 22.03.2022". DW.COM.
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